Latino voters a force this election

Turnout solid and impact felt across ballot

November 5, 2012 San Diego, CA. USA | Mayoral candidate Bob Filner was surrounded with dozens of San Diego's more prominent community activists and politicians representing the Latino community Monday, like Gracia Molina de Pick, left, and David Valladolid, in front of the Logan Heights Library for a final call to get out the vote
— Peggy Peattie

November 5, 2012 San Diego, CA. USA | Mayoral candidate Bob Filner was surrounded with dozens of San Diego's more prominent community activists and politicians representing the Latino community Monday, like Gracia Molina de Pick, left, and David Valladolid, in front of the Logan Heights Library for a final call to get out the vote
— Peggy Peattie

The percentage of Latino voter participation reached double digits across the country this week, ensuring that President Barack Obama remains in the White House and making a significant impact on statewide and local races.

Election experts said the strong showing sets a milestone for how the Latino vote can clearly affect the outcomes of political contests — and proves the constituency should not be ignored.

Latino clout at the polls also placed a spotlight on the issues they care about most, from the economy to education to immigration. Political analysts said those voters will seek major movement on such matters.

“Latino voters are a permanent part of the political equation,” said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, a director with the National Council of La Raza in Washington, D.C., which worked to mobilize that community.

“We expect action and leadership on comprehensive immigration reform in 2013,” said Eliseo Medina, international secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union. “To both sides we say: no more excuses, no more obstruction, no more gridlock.”

According to exit-poll results from various sources, Latinos accounted for 10 percent of Americans who cast ballots in this election, an increase from about 7 percent in 2008. In California, Latinos made up an estimated 22 percent of the voters in this election cycle.

Polls by media organizations such as CNN, Fox News and ABC reported that more than 70 percent of Latinos voted for Obama and roughly 27 percent supported Mitt Romney.

Experts said the Republican Party’s stance on immigration, taxes and the economy generally came across as hostile toward Latinos, while the Obama administration’s new initiative to give certain young unauthorized immigrants a two-year reprieve from deportation helped narrow the gap with Latino voters.

Gary Segura, a political science professor at Stanford University and cofounder of Latino Decisions, said if Romney had garnered as much support from Latinos as John McCain or George W. Bush did in past elections, he might have won the presidency. McCain captured more than 30 percent of the Latino vote, while Bush garnered about more than 40 percent in his re-election bid in 2004.

Similar estimates are not available in San Diego County, although campaign activists widely agree that Latinos were a key constituency in this election.

Countywide, about 18 percent of registered voters are Latino, said Carmen Lopez, outreach director for the San Diego County Registrar of Voters. The office is expected to soon release precinct-by-precinct voting data, which experts can use to analyze how different groups — age, race, ethnicity and income — might have voted.

The county’s Latino electorate had grown throughout the year, with nearly 40,000 new registrations since January. That accounted for about 40 percent of all new registrants this year, the registrar’s office said.

October saw the largest surge in new Latino voters, with more than 19,000 registering.

Factors contributing to that trend included a sizable number of newly naturalized citizens and the use of voter-registration drives in certain areas of the county, including the “Our Vote, Our Future” campaign that targeted 40 precincts in North County.